I BET IT SOUNDS KIKE A TOP NOTCH QUINTO ...LIKE A JCR....and a lot of folks complain..or super downplay those Mexican congas...but i know that with some j.c.r crowns and sideplates, + lugs it those will sound truely rumbero style.

There used to be a gentleman on this forum who is a professional woodworker.

Below is his advice:

buckoh » Sun Sep 16, 2007 4:38 pm

Derbeno, use a good stripper with methelyne chloride in it. Do it OUTSIDE to avoid fumes. Sanding should always be the last resort for stripping. If you do sand, use a random orbit sander with a vacuum hose connected to the vacuum cleaner/dust collector. Otherwise you'll get small spirals that will show up when you put the finish on. Use grit around 200-220 and final hand sand with 220 going with the grain always. One responder mentioned an oil finish. I assume he meant a danish oil finish. It is easy to touch up. Just add some of the oil and hand sand with the grain with 200-240 wet or dry sandpaper. Some of the sanding sponges work well. They are about 5X5 inches and 2 sided. The sanding will work up a mix of oil & sawdust. Follow the directions and this will allow the mix to go into the scratches and build it a little. It really is foolproof. You get a nice soft looking satin that is easy to touch up. You're going for ease of mantainence, not durability. You can also coat with many other types of finishes later if you want depth and build. Watco Danish Oil finish is a good one. Also, Geo. Maloof, a famous chair builder, sells his own mix. I haven't used it, so I can't offer an opinion. Also, Waterlox makes a nice wipe on oil that is beautiful . A friend of mine who has been in Fine Woodworking 3 times, with 5 pages the last time, uses it on pieces that go for 10,000.00 and more. Its basically the same as the others. Remember to never pile the used rags up. They will spontaneously combust and burn your shop down! Good luck. Buckbuckoh

Although you have prepared already, he has more stuff on how to prep and finish. Search for 'buckoh"

Ponceño48 where do you live? Are you in Ponce PR or mainland US? Climate is a factor you need to consider with regard to refinishing your wood conga.

Also, I agree with Buckoh's advice to use a good stripper with methylene chloride in it, but want to emphasize that you need to be extremely careful to avoid breathing the fumes. Methylene chloride is metabolized to carbon monoxide in your body and can cause all the toxicity of carbon monoxide, from headache, nausea, and rapid heart rate with light exposure to angina and heart attack with heavier exposure. Work outdoors or in a shop with well a designed properly maintained local exhaust ventilation system. With proper ventilation methylene chloride can be used safely. Dust masks are completely inadequate for protection. NIOSH-approved vapor respirators with activated charcoal will only work until the activated charcoal becomes saturated with the methylene chloride, and are not recommended as the only protective method. Ventilation is critically important.

Update and correction to my last post. I just read a medical report about methylene chloride causing deaths of workers using it to refinish bathtubs. Of the 13 bathtub refinishing workers who were reported to have died from methylene chloride exposure in 2000 - 2011 in the US, most or all did not have highly elevated carbon monoxide in their blood. In addition to causing carbon monoxide poisoning in some people, methylene chloride is now believed to cause sudden death by cardiac arrhythmia or by respiratory depression. Cardiac arrhythmias can occur at much lower exposure levels, it takes pretty high levels to cause respiratory depression (anesthesia-like cessation of breathing). Most of these deaths were in young workers below age 50, not in elderly people who have existing heart disease. The problem occurs when methylene chloride is used in an enclosed space like a bathroom with a bathtub being refinished. These 13 deaths were only in bathtub refinishing workers, and were only the ones diagnosed and reported as related to methylene chloride. Deaths or near deaths occur in many other occupations using methylene chloride, these 13 are just among bathtub refinishers. In addition to reported cases, there are probably many other cases in which the causal link between methylene chloride and sudden death is never made by the treating physicians and the cases are never reported. Given what we are learning about methylene chloride toxicity, it may be that in addition to occupational exposures, hobbyists and home renovators also experience unreported deaths and heart attacks due to methylene chloride, although there are only a few case reports actually documenting this.

In spite of these fatal cases, I still say methylene chloride can be used safely WITH PROPER PRECAUTIONS. This means it must be used with proper ventilation, preferably outside, and with a NIOSH-approved respirator rated for use with methylene chloride. Also methylene chloride can be absorbed through the skin, not just by breathing it. So you need to wear protective gloves and not get any on your skin. Even though many of us have used methylene chloride paint strippers for years without too much concern, the medical evidence is now accumulating that these much more intensive precautions are necessary. Generally this means use should be limited to professional refinishers following OSHA standards with proper precautions, or for home hobbyists, working outdoors or installing a dedicated local exhaust ventilation system in your home workshop and confirming with measured air levels that the ventilation is adequate while the stripper is being used. You can hire an industrial hygienist with a local environmental company to do the testing. The air testing for methylene chloride should be done while using the maximum amount of methylene chloride under the conditions you plan to use it. Check the ingredients list of all paint strippers you consider using for methylene chloride.